Mobile terminal and control method thereof

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal capable of performing updating on an application and a control method thereof are disclosed. The mobile terminal includes: a checking unit configured to check status information of the mobile terminal in relation to updating of an application; a detection unit configured to detect an application in which an update event has occurred, on the basis of the status information of the mobile terminal; and a controlled configured to perform updating on the application detected by the detection unit.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of earlier filing date and right ofpriority to Korean Application Nos. 10-2011-0145058, filed on Dec. 28,2011, and 10-2011-0145077, filed on Dec. 28, 2011, the contents of whichare all hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal capable of updatingan application, and a control method thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, terminals may be divided into a mobile terminal andstationary terminal according to whether or not terminals are movable.In addition, mobile terminals may be divided into a handheld terminaland a vehicle mount terminal according to whether or not users candirectly carry it around.

A mobile terminal may be configured to perform various functions.Examples of such functions include data and voice communicationfunction, a function of capturing images and video through a camera, afunction of storing a voice, playing music files through a speakersystem, a function of displaying images or video. Some mobile terminalsinclude additional functions which supports game playing, while otherterminals are configured as multimedia players. More recently, mobileterminals have been configured to receive broadcast and multicastsignals to allow for viewing of videos and television programs.

Efforts are ongoing to support and increase the functionality of mobileterminals. Such efforts include software and hardware improvements, aswell as changes and improvements in the structural components which formthe mobile terminal.

Also, an application program (referred to as an ‘application’,hereinafter) having a particular purpose may be installed in a mobileterminal to execute various function through the mobile terminal.Meanwhile, the application installed in the mobile terminal may beupdated by using update data received from an external server or aservice provider. In a method for updating an application, in therelated art, a user enters a program that performs updating and appliesan update command, or the like. Namely, an application is updatedpassively.

Also, before the user enters such a program, the user cannot know updatecontent with respect to the application, having a problem in which theuser cannot use the latest version of application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminal and acontrol method thereof capable of providing update information to a userwhen an update event of an application occurs.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminaland a control method thereof capable of automatically performingupdating on an application according to a state of the mobile terminal.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a mobile terminaland a control method thereof capable of providing a graphical userinterface environment allowing a user to recognize update informationwith respect to an application by intuition.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided amobile terminal including: a checking unit configured to check statusinformation of the mobile terminal in relation to updating of anapplication; a detection unit configured to detect an application inwhich an update event has occurred, on the basis of the statusinformation of the mobile terminal; and a controlled configured toperform updating on the application detected by the detection unit.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the status informationof the mobile terminal corresponds with a pre-set update condition, thedetection unit may detect the application in which an update event hasoccurred.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the application in whichthe update event has occurred is detected by the detection unit, thecontroller may output update information with respect to the detectedapplication.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the update information may beoutput through a pop-up window displayed on a display unit, and thecontroller may automatically perform updating on the detectedapplication or may perform updating on the basis of an update commandapplied through the pop-up window.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the checking unit may checkthe status information of the mobile terminal in real time or at pre-settime intervals.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the status information of themobile terminal may be associated with at least one of time information,location information, battery information, capacity information,information regarding the frequency of use of an application, andcommunication mode information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile terminal mayfurther include: a terminal main body; and a location information unitconfigured to collect location information of the main body, wherein thechecking unit may check whether or not the location information of themain body collected by the location information unit indicates that mainbody has entered a pre-set region.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the checking unit may check acommunication mode of a wireless communication unit, and when thecommunication mode of the wireless communication unit meets an updatecondition according to the checking results, the controller may controlthe detection unit to detect the application in which the update eventhas occurred.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the communication modeis changed, the controller may compare a first communication ratecorresponding to a previous communication mode before the change and acommunication rate corresponding to the changed communication mode, anddetermine whether to perform updating on the detected application on thebasis of the comparison results.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is alsoprovided a mobile terminal including: a monitoring unit configured tomonitor whether or not an update event with respect to an applicationoccurs, a detection unit configured to detect status information of themobile terminal in response to an occurrence of the update event; and acontrolled configured to update the application in which the updateevent has occurred according to the detected status information of themobile terminal.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the status informationof the mobile terminal detected by the detection unit meets a referencecondition, the controller updates the application in which the updateevent has occurred.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the controller may determinewhether or not the application corresponding to the update eventmonitored by the monitoring unit is a pre-set application to be updated,and control the detection unit to detect the status information of themobile terminal according to the determination results.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the application to be updatedmay be determined on the basis of at least one of the frequency of use,an update capacity, and a user setting.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the occurrence of theupdate event is monitored by the monitoring unit, the controller mayoutput information regarding the application corresponding to thegenerated update event to a display unit.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the controller may determinewhether or not the application corresponding to the update event can beupdated on the basis of the status information of the mobile terminal,and when the application can be updated according to the determinationresults, the controller may output the information regarding theapplication through a pop-up window.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the controller mayautomatically perform updating on the application, or perform updatingon the basis of an update command applied through the pop-up window.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is alsoprovided a mobile terminal including: a display unit configured todisplay a first icon corresponding to an application; a detection unitconfigured to detect an update event with respect to the application;and a controller configured to control the display unit to display asecond icon in response to the detection of the update event, andexecute updating on the application on the basis of an update executioncommand.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second icon may bedisplayed on a region adjacent to the first icon, and the updateexecution command may be generated in response to a touch input appliedto the second icon.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when updating is executed onthe application, a progress bar indicating the progress of updating withrespect to the application may be displayed on the display unit.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the update execution commandmay be generated on the basis of a touch input corresponding to apre-set pattern to the region in which the first icon is displayed, andthe controller may execute updating on the application corresponding tothe first icon on the basis of the generated update execution command.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile terminal mayfurther include: a checking unit configured to check status informationof the mobile terminal in relation to updating of an application, andwhen the status information of the mobile terminal meets an updatecondition according to the checking results of the checking unit, theupdate command may be generated.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is alsoprovided a mobile terminal including: a display unit configured tooutput any one of a plurality of pages on which icons corresponding toapplications are displayed; a monitoring unit configured to monitorwhether or not an update event has occurred in at least any one of theapplications corresponding to the icons displayed on the plurality ofpages; and a controller configured to control the display unit todisplay update information in relation to the update event.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of page imagescorresponding to the plurality of pages, respectively, may be displayedin one region of a page output to the display unit, and the controllermay display information regarding the update event in a region adjacentto the page image corresponding to the page including the icon of theapplication in which the update event has occurred among the pluralityof page images.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the information regarding theupdate event may be information regarding the number of applications inwhich the update event has occurred among the applications correspondingto the icons of the applications included in the pages.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the page image isselected, a thumbnail of the application in which the update event hasoccurred among the applications displayed on the page corresponding tothe selected page image may be displayed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the thumbnail isselected, updating of the application corresponding to the thumbnail maybe performed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when any one of the pluralityof page images is selected by the user, the controller may update theapplication in which the update event has occurred among theapplications corresponding to the selected page.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the controller may display aprogress bar indicating the progress of updating of the application in aregion of the display unit.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the controller may change anoutput range of the display unit such that the selected page is output.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile terminal mayfurther include: a checking unit configured to check status informationof the mobile terminal in relation to updating of an application,wherein when the status information of the mobile terminal meets anupdate condition according to the checking results of the checking unit,the controller may update an application corresponding to the updateevent monitored by the monitoring unit.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the status informationof the mobile terminal meets the update condition, the controller maygenerate a pop-up window and display an application list correspondingto the update event monitored by the monitoring unit in the pop-upwindow.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the controller may performupdating only on an application selected through the pop-up window orperform updating on the selected application preferentially over theother applications.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will becomeapparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, itshould be understood that the detailed description and specificexamples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, aregiven by illustration only, since various changes and modificationswithin the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from thedetailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings,which are given by illustration only, and thus are not limitative of thepresent invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are front perspective views of the mobile terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing the mobile terminalaccording to an embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of the mobileterminal according to an embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual view explaining an update method of the mobileterminal according to an embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, and 6E are conceptual views explaining statusinformation of the mobile terminal.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual view explaining a method of providing informationregarding an application in relation to updating in the mobile terminalaccording to an embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of the mobileterminal according to another embodiment disclosed in the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual view explaining an update method of the mobileterminal according to another embodiment disclosed in the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are conceptual views explaining a method of performingupdating based on status information in the mobile terminal according toanother embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a conceptual view explaining a method of performing updatingonly on a particular application in the mobile terminal according toanother embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are conceptual views explaining a method of setting anupdate condition in mobile terminal disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of displayingupdate information in the mobile terminal according to an embodimentdisclosed in the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual view explaining a control method of displayingupdate information in the mobile terminal according to an embodimentdisclosed in the present disclosure.

FIGS. 15, 16A and 16B are conceptual views explaining a method ofgenerating an update execution command in the mobile terminal accordingto another embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of displayingupdate information in the mobile terminal according to anotherembodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a conceptual view explaining the control method of displayingupdate information in the mobile terminal according to anotherembodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

FIGS. 19, 20, 21, 22A and 22B are conceptual views explaining a controlmethod of displaying update information in the mobile terminal accordingto another embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The mobile terminal according to exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. In the following description, usage of suffixes such as‘module’, ‘part’ or ‘unit’ used for referring to elements is givenmerely to facilitate explanation of the present invention, withouthaving any significant meaning by itself. Accordingly, the ‘module’ and‘part’ may be mixedly used. In describing the present invention, if adetailed explanation for a related known function or construction isconsidered to unnecessarily divert the gist of the present invention,such explanation has been omitted but would be understood by thoseskilled in the art. It will be appreciated that the accompanyingdrawings are presented to help understand the present invention moreclearly and the technical concept of the present invention is notlimited by the accompanying drawings.

Mobile terminals described in the present disclosure may include mobilephones, smart phones, notebook computers, tablet computers, digitalbroadcast receivers, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), PMPs (PortableMultimedia Player), navigation devices, and the like. However, it wouldbe understood by a person skilled in the art that the configurationaccording to embodiments of the present invention can be also applicableto the fixed types of terminals such as digital TVs, desk top computers,and the like, except for any elements especially configured for a mobilepurpose.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention.

The mobile terminal 100 may include a wireless communication unit 110,an A/V (Audio/Video) input unit 120, a user input unit 130, a sensingunit 140, an output unit 150, a memory 160, an interface unit 170, acontroller 180, and a power supply unit 190, etc. FIG. 1 shows themobile terminal as having various components, but it should beunderstood that implementing all of the illustrated components is not arequirement. Greater or fewer components may alternatively beimplemented.

The elements of the mobile terminal will be described in detail asfollows.

The wireless communication unit 110 typically includes one or moremodules allowing radio communication between the mobile terminal 100 anda wireless communication system or a network in which the mobileterminal is located. For example, the wireless communication unit mayinclude at least one of a broadcast receiving module 111, a mobilecommunication module 112, a wireless Internet module 113, a short-rangecommunication module 114, and a location information module 115.

The broadcast receiving module 111 receives broadcast signals and/orbroadcast associated information from an external broadcast managementserver (or other network entity) via a broadcast channel.

The broadcast channel may include a satellite channel and/or aterrestrial channel. The broadcast management server may be a serverthat generates and transmits a broadcast signal and/or broadcastassociated information or a server that receives a previously generatedbroadcast signal and/or broadcast associated information and transmitsthe same to a terminal. The broadcast signal may include a TV broadcastsignal, a radio broadcast signal, a data broadcast signal, and the like.Also, the broadcast signal may further include a broadcast signalcombined with a TV or radio broadcast signal.

The broadcast associated information may refer to information associatedwith a broadcast channel, a broadcast program or a broadcast serviceprovider. The broadcast associated information may also be provided viaa mobile communication network and, in this case, the broadcastassociated information may be received by the mobile communicationmodule 112.

The broadcast associated information may exist in various forms. Forexample, it may exist in the form of an electronic program guide (EPG)of digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), electronic service guide (ESG)of digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H), and the like.

The broadcast receiving module 111 may be configured to receive signalsbroadcast by using various types of broadcast systems. In particular,the broadcast receiving module 111 may receive a digital broadcast byusing a digital broadcast system such as multimediabroadcasting-terrestrial (DMB-T), digital multimediabroadcasting-satellite (DMB-S), digital video broadcast-handheld(DVB-H), the data broadcasting system known as media forward link only(MediaFLO®), integrated services digital broadcast-terrestrial (ISDB-T),etc. The broadcast receiving module 111 may be configured to be suitablefor every broadcast system that provides a broadcast signal as well asthe above-mentioned digital broadcast systems.

Broadcast signals and/or broadcast-associated information received viathe broadcast receiving module 111 may be stored in the memory 160.

The mobile communication module 112 transmits and/or receives radiosignals to and/or from at least one of a base station (e.g., accesspoint, Node B, etc.), an external terminal (e.g., other user devices)and a server (or other network entities). Such radio signals may includea voice call signal, a video call signal or various types of dataaccording to text and/or multimedia message transmission and/orreception.

The wireless Internet module 113 supports wireless Internet access forthe mobile terminal. This module may be internally or externally coupledto the mobile terminal. The wireless Internet access techniqueimplemented may include a WLAN (Wireless LAN) (Wi-Fi), Wibro (Wirelessbroadband), Wimax (World Interoperability for Microwave Access), HSDPA(High Speed Downlink Packet Access), or the like.

The short-range communication module 114 is a module for supportingshort range communications. Some examples of short-range communicationtechnology include Bluetooth™, Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID),Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Ultra-WideBand (UWB), ZigBee™, and thelike.

The location information module 115 is a module for checking oracquiring a location (or position) of the mobile terminal. A typicalexample of the location information module is a GPS (Global PositioningSystem).

With reference to FIG. 1, the A/V input unit 120 is configured toreceive an audio or video signal. The A/V input unit 120 may include acamera 121 and a microphone 122. The camera 121 processes image data ofstill pictures or video obtained by an image capture device in a videocapturing mode or an image capturing mode. The processed image framesmay be displayed on a display unit 151.

The image frames processed by the camera 121 may be stored in the memory160 (or other storage medium) or transmitted via the wirelesscommunication unit 110. Two or more cameras 121 may be providedaccording to the configuration of the mobile terminal.

The microphone 122 may receive sounds (audible data) via a microphone ina phone call mode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, and thelike, and can process such sounds into audio data. The processed audio(voice) data may be converted for output into a format transmittable toa mobile communication base station via the mobile communication module112 in case of the phone call mode. The microphone 122 may implementvarious types of noise canceling (or suppression) algorithms to cancel(or suppress) noise or interference generated in the course of receivingand transmitting audio signals.

The user input unit 130 may generate input data from commands entered bya user to control various operations of the mobile terminal. The userinput unit 130 may include a keypad, a dome switch, a touch pad, a jogwheel, a jog switch, and the like.

The sensing unit (or a detection unit) 140 detects a current status (orstate) of the mobile terminal 100 such as an opened or closed state ofthe mobile terminal 100, a location of the mobile terminal 100, thepresence or absence of user contact with the mobile terminal 100 (i.e.,touch inputs), the orientation of the mobile terminal 100, anacceleration or deceleration movement and direction of the mobileterminal 100, etc., and generates commands or signals for controllingthe operation of the mobile terminal 100. For example, when the mobileterminal 100 is implemented as a slide type mobile phone, the sensingunit 140 may sense whether the slide phone is opened or closed. Inaddition, the sensing unit 140 can detect whether or not the powersupply unit 190 supplies power or whether or not the interface unit 170is coupled with an external device. The sensing unit 140 may include aproximity sensor 141.

The output unit 150 is configured to provide outputs in a visual,audible, and/or tactile manner (e.g., audio signal, video signal, alarmsignal, vibration signal, etc.). The output unit 150 may include thedisplay unit 151, an audio output module 152, an alarm unit 153, ahaptic module 154, and the like.

The display unit 151 may display (output) information processed in themobile terminal 100. For example, when the mobile terminal 100 is in aphone call mode, the display unit 151 may display a User Interface (UI)or a Graphic User Interface (GUI) associated with a call or othercommunication (such as text messaging, multimedia file downloading,etc.). When the mobile terminal 100 is in a video call mode or imagecapturing mode, the display unit 151 may display a captured image and/orreceived image, a UI or GUI that shows videos or images and functionsrelated thereto, and the like.

The display unit 151 may include at least one of a Liquid CrystalDisplay (LCD), a Thin Film Transistor-LCD (TFT-LCD), an Organic LightEmitting Diode (OLED) display, a flexible display, a three-dimensional(3D) display, or the like.

Some of them may be configured to be transparent or light-transmissiveto allow viewing of the exterior, which may be called transparentdisplays. A typical transparent display may be, for example, a TOLED(Transparent Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, or the like. Throughsuch configuration, the user can view an object positioned at the rearside of the mobile terminal body through the region occupied by thedisplay unit 151 of the mobile terminal body.

The mobile terminal 100 may include two or more display units (or otherdisplay means) according to its particular desired embodiment. Forexample, a plurality of display units may be separately or integrallydisposed on one surface of the mobile terminal, or may be separatelydisposed on mutually different surfaces.

Meanwhile, when the display unit 151 and a sensor (referred to as a‘touch sensor’, hereinafter) for detecting a touch operation areoverlaid in a layered manner to form a touch screen, the display unit151 may function as both an input device and an output device. The touchsensor may have a form of a touch film, a touch sheet, a touch pad, andthe like.

The touch sensor may be configured to convert pressure applied to aparticular portion of the display unit 151 or a change in thecapacitance or the like generated at a particular portion of the displayunit 151 into an electrical input signal. The touch sensor may beconfigured to detect the pressure when a touch is applied, as well asthe touched position and area.

When there is a touch input with respect to the touch sensor, acorresponding signal (signals) are transmitted to a touch controller.The touch controller processes the signals and transmits correspondingdata to the controller 180. Accordingly, the controller 180 mayrecognize which portion of the display unit 151 has been touched.

With reference to FIG. 1, a proximity sensor 141 may be disposed withinor near the touch screen. The proximity sensor 141 is a sensor fordetecting the presence or absence of an object relative to a certaindetection surface or an object that exists nearby by using the force ofelectromagnetism or infrared rays without a physical contact. Thus, theproximity sensor 141 has a considerably longer life span compared with acontact type sensor, and it can be utilized for various purposes.

Examples of the proximity sensor 141 may include a transmission typephotoelectric sensor, a direct reflection type photoelectric sensor, amirror-reflection type photoelectric sensor, an RF oscillation typeproximity sensor, a capacitance type proximity sensor, a magneticproximity sensor, an infrared proximity sensor, and the like. In casewhere the touch screen is the capacitance type, proximity of the pointeris detected by a change in electric field according to the proximity ofthe pointer. In this case, the touch screen (touch sensor) may beclassified as a proximity sensor.

In the following description, for the sake of brevity, recognition ofthe pointer positioned to be close to the touch screen will be called a‘proximity touch’, while recognition of actual contacting of the pointeron the touch screen will be called a ‘contact touch’. In this case, whenthe pointer is in the state of the proximity touch, it means that thepointer is positioned to correspond vertically to the touch screen.

By employing the proximity sensor 141, a proximity touch and a proximitytouch pattern (e.g., a proximity touch distance, a proximity touchspeed, a proximity touch time, a proximity touch position, a proximitytouch movement state, or the like) can be detected, and informationcorresponding to the detected proximity touch operation and theproximity touch pattern can be outputted to the touch screen.

The audio output module 152 may convert and output as sound audio datareceived from the wireless communication unit 110 or stored in thememory 160 in a call signal reception mode, a call mode, a record mode,a voice recognition mode, a broadcast reception mode, and the like.Also, the audio output module 152 may provide audible outputs related toa particular function performed by the mobile terminal 100 (e.g., a callsignal reception sound, a message reception sound, etc.). The audiooutput module 152 may include a speaker, a buzzer, or other soundgenerating device.

The alarm unit 153 may provide outputs to inform about the occurrence ofan event of the mobile terminal 100. Typical events may include callreception, message reception, key signal inputs, a touch input etc. Inaddition to audio or video outputs, the alarm unit 153 may provideoutputs in a different manner to inform about the occurrence of anevent. For example, the alarm unit 153 may provide an output in the formof vibrations (or other tactile or sensible outputs). When a call, amessage, or some other incoming communication is received, the alarmunit 153 may provide tactile outputs (i.e., vibrations) to inform theuser thereof. By providing such tactile outputs, the user can recognizethe occurrence of various events even if his mobile phone is in theuser's pocket. Outputs informing about the occurrence of an event may bealso provided via the display unit 151 or the audio output module 152.The display unit 151 and the audio output module 152 may be classifiedas a part of the alarm unit 153.

The haptic module 154 generates various tactile effects the user mayfeel. A typical example of the tactile effects generated by the hapticmodule 154 is vibration. The strength and pattern of the haptic module154 can be controlled. For example, different vibrations may be combinedto be outputted or sequentially outputted.

Besides vibration, the haptic module 154 may generate various othertactile effects such as an effect by stimulation such as a pinarrangement vertically moving with respect to a contact skin, a sprayforce or suction force of air through a jet orifice or a suctionopening, a contact on the skin, a contact of an electrode, electrostaticforce, etc., an effect by reproducing the sense of cold and warmth usingan element that can absorb or generate heat.

The haptic module 154 may be implemented to allow the user to feel atactile effect through a muscle sensation such as fingers or arm of theuser, as well as transferring the tactile effect through a directcontact. Two or more haptic modules 154 may be provided according to theconfiguration of the mobile terminal 100.

The memory 160 may store software programs used for the processing andcontrolling operations performed by the controller 180, or maytemporarily store data (e.g., a phonebook, messages, still images,video, etc.) that are inputted or outputted. In addition, the memory 160may store data regarding various patterns of vibrations and audiosignals outputted when a touch is inputted to the touch screen.

The memory 160 may include at least one type of storage medium includinga Flash memory, a hard disk, a multimedia card micro type, a card-typememory (e.g., SD or DX memory, etc), a Random Access Memory (RAM), aStatic Random Access Memory (SRAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), anElectrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), aProgrammable Read-Only memory (PROM), a magnetic memory, a magneticdisk, and an optical disk. Also, the mobile terminal 100 may be operatedin relation to a web storage device that performs the storage functionof the memory 160 over the Internet.

The interface unit 170 serves as an interface with every external deviceconnected with the mobile terminal 100. For example, the externaldevices may transmit data to an external device, receives and transmitspower to each element of the mobile terminal 100, or transmits internaldata of the mobile terminal 100 to an external device. For example, theinterface unit 170 may include wired or wireless headset ports, externalpower supply ports, wired or wireless data ports, memory card ports,ports for connecting a device having an identification module, audioinput/output (I/O) ports, video I/O ports, earphone ports, or the like.

The identification module may be a chip that stores various informationfor authenticating the authority of using the mobile terminal 100 andmay include a user identity module (UIM), a subscriber identity module(SIM) a universal subscriber identity module (USIM), and the like. Inaddition, the device having the identification module (referred to as‘identifying device’, hereinafter) may take the form of a smart card.Accordingly, the identifying device may be connected with the mobileterminal 100 via a port.

When the mobile terminal 100 is connected with an external cradle, theinterface unit 170 may serve as a passage to allow power from the cradleto be supplied therethrough to the mobile terminal 100 or may serve as apassage to allow various command signals inputted by the user from thecradle to be transferred to the mobile terminal therethrough. Variouscommand signals or power inputted from the cradle may operate as signalsfor recognizing that the mobile terminal is properly mounted on thecradle.

The controller 180 typically controls the general operations of themobile terminal. For example, the controller 180 performs controllingand processing associated with voice calls, data communications, videocalls, and the like. The controller 180 may include a multimedia module181 for reproducing multimedia data. The multimedia module 181 may beconfigured within the controller 180 or may be configured to beseparated from the controller 180.

The controller 180 may perform a pattern recognition processing torecognize a handwriting input or a picture drawing input performed onthe touch screen as characters or images, respectively.

The power supply unit 190 receives external power or internal power andsupplies appropriate power required for operating respective elementsand components under the control of the controller 180.

Various embodiments described herein may be implemented in acomputer-readable or its similar medium using, for example, software,hardware, or any combination thereof.

For hardware implementation, the embodiments described herein may beimplemented by using at least one of application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signalprocessing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, electronic units designed to performthe functions described herein. In some cases, such embodiments may beimplemented by the controller 180 itself.

For software implementation, the embodiments such as procedures orfunctions described herein may be implemented by separate softwaremodules. Each software module may perform one or more functions oroperations described herein. Software codes can be implemented by asoftware application written in any suitable programming language. Thesoftware codes may be stored in the memory 160 and executed by thecontroller 180.

Also, the mobile terminal may include at least one or more of theelements as described above and may execute updating on an applicationinstalled in the mobile terminal main body.

Here, the ‘application’ may be expressed as an ‘application program’which is a dedicated program for performing a particular work oroperation. For example, the application may be a program in relation togames, music, a document operation, a message, financing, e-book,traffic information, and the like.

Meanwhile, updating of an application refers to changing relevantexisting data into the latest data when there is a matter to be added toor to be changed in an execution file, a library, or resource of theapplication. The latest data may be received from an external server inrelation to the corresponding application.

A method of performing updating on an application by using the mobileterminal according to an embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing the mobile terminal 100according to an embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure. Here,content already described above with reference to FIG. 1 will beomitted.

With reference to FIG. 3, the mobile terminal may include the controller180, a detection unit 182, a checking unit 183, a monitoring unit 184,the wireless communication unit 110, the display unit 151, the locationinformation unit 115, the memory 160, and the power supply unit 190.

The mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present inventionmay perform updating on an application installed in the mobile terminalaccording to status information of the mobile terminal.

In an embodiment, first, the checking unit 183 checks status informationof the mobile terminal in relation to updating of the application.

Here, the ‘status information’ is related to an update conditionallowing for updating of the application and may be variably set by thecontroller 180 or according to a user setting.

For example, the ‘status information’ may be related to at least one ofwhether or not power is supplied (or whether or not a dock is detected),a location of the mobile terminal, a communication mode (3G, 4G, Wi-Fi,NFC, or the like) of the mobile terminal, time information, batteryinformation, an update capacity, billing information, whether or not themobile terminal is connected to a cloud server, the frequency of use ofthe application.

For example, in case in which the user sets performing of updating on anapplication as ‘status information’ when a ‘location of terminal’ is‘home’ of the user, the checking unit 183 checks a location of themobile terminal.

Here, the checking unit 183 may continuously check the statusinformation of the mobile terminal in real time or at pre-set intervals.

Next, the detection unit 182 detects an application in which an updateevent has occurred among a plurality of applications installed in themobile terminal on the basis of the status information of the mobileterminal checked by the checking unit 183.

Namely, when the status information of the mobile terminal correspondsto (or meets) a pre-set update condition, the detection unit 182 maydetect an application in which an update event has occurred.

For example, when the user sets an update condition such that updatingis executed on the application when power is supplied to the mobileterminal, the checking unit 183 checks whether or not power is suppliedto the power supply unit 190.

Upon checking, when power supply to the power supply unit 190 isdetected, the detection unit 182 may detect the application in which theupdate event has occurred.

Here, as described above, when there is a matter to be added to or to bechanged in an execution file, a library, or resource of the application,the update event may occur on the basis of data in relation to updatingreceived from an external server.

Meanwhile, as described above, when the application in which the updateevent has occurred is detected by the detection unit 180, the controller180 performs updating on the detected application.

Also, when an application that can be updated is detected by thedetection unit 182, the controller 180 may output correspondingnotification information.

The controller 180 may output the notification information to the user,so that the user can select whether to perform updating on theapplication. Also, although the user does not select whether to performupdating on the application, when the update condition with respect tothe application is met, the controller 180 may automatically performupdating on the application.

Meanwhile, the notification information may be output by using at leastone of a sound, vibration, a lamp, a pop-up window, and the user mayselect whether to perform updating on the application through the pop-upwindow.

In the method as described above, the status information of the mobileterminal is first checked, and when the checked status information ofthe mobile terminal meets the update condition, namely, when the statusinformation of the mobile terminal is first checked, and when thechecked status information of the mobile terminal corresponds to theupdate condition, an application in which an update event has occurredis detected and updating is performed on the application.

Hereinafter, a method of checking status information of the mobileterminal on the basis of an update event occurring with respect to anapplication and updating the application according to the check resultswill be described.

First, the monitoring unit 184 monitors whether or not an update eventhas occurred in an application installed in the mobile terminal.

When an update event has occurred in an application according to themonitoring results of the monitoring unit 184, the checking unit 183detects status information of the mobile terminal in response to thegenerated update event.

Here, as described above, the status information of the mobile terminalis information regarding whether or not the mobile terminal is in astate in which the application can be updated, and such statusinformation of the mobile terminal may be set according to a userselection.

In this manner, when the status information of the mobile terminal meetsthe update condition (or reference condition), the controller 180 mayperform updating on the application in which the update event hasoccurred.

Meanwhile, the controller 180 may control whether to perform updatingaccording to a type of an application among applications monitored bythe monitoring unit 184.

For example, the user may select an ‘application to be updated (or anupdate target application)’, and the controller 180 determines whetheror not the monitored application is an ‘update target application’.According to the determination results, when the application in whichthe update event has occurred is an update target application, thecontroller 180 may control the checking unit 183 to check the statusinformation of the mobile terminal.

Meanwhile, the update target application may be determined by thefrequency of use of an application, an update capacity, and at least oneof the applications selected by the user.

Also, according to the check results of the checking unit 183, when thestatus information of the mobile terminal does not meet the updatecondition for updating the application, the controller 180 may notupdate the application in which the update event has occurred.

In this case, the controller 180 may store the information regarding theapplication in which the update event has occurred in the memory 160,and thereafter, when the status information of the mobile terminal meetsthe update condition, the controller 180 may perform updating on theapplication.

Meanwhile, when the monitoring unit 184 monitors that the update eventhas occurred with respect to the application, the controller 180 mayoutput information regarding the application in which the update eventhas occurred to the display unit 151 to inform the user accordingly.

Namely, on the basis of status information of the mobile terminalchecked by the checking unit 183, the controller 180 determines whetheror not the application corresponding to the update event can be updated,and when updating of the application can be performed according to thedetermination results, the controller 180 may output correspondinginformation through a pop-up window, or the like.

In this case, the controller 180 may perform updating on the applicationon the basis of an update command applied from the user through thepop-up window, or automatically perform updating on the application.

As described above, in the mobile terminal according to an embodimentdisclosed in the present disclosure, when the mobile terminal is in astate in which updating can be performed on the application, updatingcan be performed on the application automatically or on the basis of auser selection. Thus, user inconvenience of accessing an application inrelation to an updating function to perform updating on the applicationadditionally can be reduced.

Hereinafter, a method of performing updating on an application accordingto status information of the mobile terminal will be described in detailwith reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of the mobileterminal according to an embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure,and FIG. 5 is a conceptual view explaining an update method of themobile terminal according to an embodiment disclosed in the presentdisclosure.

First, the checking unit 183 in FIG. 3 checks status information of themobile terminal in relation to updating of an application in real timeor at pre-set time intervals (step S410).

For example, when the status information of the mobile terminal isinformation related to a location of the mobile terminal, the checkingunit 183 checks location information of the mobile terminal collected bythe location information unit 115.

The location information unit 115 may receive location information ofthe main body by using a global positioning system (GPS) or a Wi-Fipositioning system (WPS) among the location positioning techniques.

Here, the GPS refers to a system receiving location information of themain body from artificial satellites rotating about the earth. Namely,the location information unit 115 may obtain location information of themain body through latitude information and longitude informationreceived from the GPS.

Meanwhile, the WPS refers to a system determining a location of the mainbody by using virtual access point (AP) database (DP) informationestablished through War-Driving and WLAN AP information from the mobileterminal 100. Namely, the location information unit 115 may obtainlocation information of the main body through triangulation on the basisof a location of an AP of Wi-Fi.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5( a), the location information unit 115collects location of the mobile terminal at a first spot 300 a, andsimilarly, as shown in FIG. 5( b), when the mobile terminal 100 movesfrom the first spot 300 a to a second spot 300 b, the locationinformation unit 115 collects location information of the mobileterminal 100 at the second spot 300 b.

The checking unit 183 checks location information of the mobile terminalcollected by the location information unit 115. The checking unit 183checks whether or not the location of the mobile terminal 100 is in anupdate region in which the status information of the mobile terminalmeets the update condition.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5( b), when the region corresponding tothe second spot 300 b is an update region 300, the status information ofthe mobile terminal may be considered to meet the update condition.

Meanwhile, when the status information of the mobile terminal meets theupdate condition, as shown in FIG. 5( b), the controller 180 may outputinformation regarding the status of the mobile terminal through a pop-upwindow 310.

Next, when the status information of the mobile terminal meets theupdate condition, the detection unit 182 detects an application in whichan update event has occurred (step S420).

And, the controller 180 performs updating on the detected application(step S430).

Here, as shown in FIG. 5( c) and (d), the controller 180 mayautomatically execute updating on the application in which the updateevent has occurred. Also, although not shown, the controller 180 mayoutput a pop-up window and perform updating on the application accordingto a user selection through the output pop-up window.

Also, the controller 180 may perform updating on every application inwhich the update event has occurred, and selectively perform updatingonly on an application corresponding to a pre-set reference. Here, theapplication corresponding to the pre-set reference may be an applicationselected by the user or an application corresponding to a reference setby the user.

In the above, the method of updating an application when statusinformation of the mobile terminal meets the update condition has beendescribed.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments in relation to status information ofthe mobile terminal will be described with reference to FIGS. 6A, 6B,6C, 6D, and 6E. FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, and 6E are conceptual viewsexplaining status information of the mobile terminal.

In the method as described above, the mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention updates an application when thestatus information of the mobile terminal meets the update condition setby the user or the controller.

Here, a status of the mobile terminal, namely, the status information ofthe mobile terminal, is related to whether or not the mobile terminalmeets the update condition. For example, the status information of themobile terminal may be information regarding a status of the mobileterminal, such as ‘updating an application on when a communication modeof the mobile terminal is a Wi-Fi mode’, or the like.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, the status information of the mobileterminal may be information related to a communication mode of themobile terminal.

Here, the ‘communication mode’ may be a ‘3G mode’, a ‘4G mode’, a Wi-Fimode', or the like, representing a wireless communication network towhich the wireless communication unit 110 is currently connected. Whenthe wireless communication unit 110 is connected to the 3G communicationnetwork, it may be expressed that the mobile terminal is set in the 3Gcommunication mode.

For example, when the user sets the status information of the mobileterminal as ‘performing updating on application when communication modeof terminal is connected to Wi-Fi mode’, the checking unit 183 checksthe communication mode of the wireless communication unit 110 in realtime or at pre-set intervals.

According to the check results, as shown in FIG. 6A (b), when thecommunication mode is the Wi-Fi mode, the controller 180 may performupdating on the application detected by the detection unit 182.

Namely, the checking unit 183 checks the communication mode of thewireless communication unit 110, and when the communication mode of thewireless communication unit 110 is a communication mode that meets theupdate condition according to the check results, the controller 180 maycontrol the detection unit 183 to detect an application in which theupdate event has occurred.

In addition, when the communication mode of the wireless communicationunit 110 is changed, the controller 180 may compare a firstcommunication rate corresponding to a previous communication mode beforethe change and the changed communication mode and a second communicationrate corresponding to the changed communication mode. According to thecomparison results, when the second communication mode corresponding tothe changed communication mode is equal to or faster than the firstcommunication mode before the change, the controller 180 may continue toperform updating on the application detected by the detection unit 182.

Meanwhile, when the second communication rate is slower than the firstcommunication rate, or when the changed communication mode is acommunication mode charged with a fare, the controller 180 may stopupdating of the application.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 6B, the status information of themobile terminal may be information related to a location of the mobileterminal.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6B, when it is set such that updating isperformed on an application when the mobile terminal is located in anarea corresponding to the user's ‘house, the checking unit 183 checkslocation information of the mobile terminal main body collected by thelocation information unit 115.

According to the check results, when the mobile terminal main body islocated in a pre-set region, namely, in the ‘house’, the controller 180executes updating on the application.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 6C, the status information of themobile terminal may be related to a power state of the mobile terminal.

For example, the controller 180 may perform controlling such thatupdating is performed on an application when a power state, namely, aremaining battery capacity, of the mobile terminal is more than apre-set level.

Also, as shown in FIG. 6C, the controller 180 may perform controllingsuch that updating is performed on an application when power is beingsupplied to the mobile terminal 100.

Namely, as illustrated, the checking unit 183 checks whether or not themobile terminal is connected to a charger 190 a, and on the basis of thecheck results, the controller 180 may control the detection unit 182 todetect an application in which the update event has occurred.

Also, in another example, as shown in FIG. 6D, the status information ofthe mobile terminal checked by the checking unit 183 may be informationrelated to time.

For example, the user may set such that updating is executed on anapplication at a ‘particular time’, and the checking unit 183 may checkwhether or not the particular time set by the user arrives.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 6E (a), the status information ofthe mobile terminal may be related to whether or not the mobile terminal100 is connected to an external cloud server 500.

Also, the checking unit 183 may check update information of a differentwireless terminal which may be able to share information through theconnected cloud server 500 and check whether or not updating has beenperformed on an application installed in the different wireless terminalin the same manner.

According to the check results, when updating was performed on the sameapplication in the different wireless terminal, the controller 180 mayperform updating on the application installed in the mobile terminal100.

Meanwhile, besides the examples as described above, the statusinformation of the mobile terminal performing updating on an applicationmay be variably set.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 7, the mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention may visually provide statusinformation of the mobile terminal and information regarding anapplication to the user through the display unit 151. FIG. 7 is aconceptual view explaining a method of providing information regardingan application in relation to updating in the mobile terminal accordingto an embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

For example, a case in which status information of the mobile terminalis set such that updating of the mobile terminal is performed when themobile terminal enters a first region will be described.

As shown in FIG. 7( a), when the checking unit 183 checks that themobile terminal 100 has entered the first region, the controller 180informs that the mobile terminal has entered the first region through apop-up window 310.

As shown in FIG. 7( b), the controller 180 outputs information regardingapplications detected by the detection unit 182 by using icons orthumbnails 311, 312, and 313 to the display unit 151.

Here, when the user selects at least one of the detected applications,the controller 180 may perform updating on the selected application.

Also, as shown in FIG. 7( c), the controller 180 may automaticallyperform updating on the detected applications.

In the above, the method of performing updating on the application onthe basis of the status information of the mobile terminal has beendescribed.

Hereinafter, a method of detecting status information of the mobileterminal on the basis of an update event generated with respect to anapplication, and performing updating on the application on the basis ofthe detection results will be described.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of the mobileterminal according to another embodiment disclosed in the presentdisclosure, and FIG. 9 is a conceptual view explaining an update methodof the mobile terminal according to another embodiment disclosed in thepresent disclosure.

First, the monitoring unit 184 in FIG. 3 monitors whether or not theupdate event has occurred with respect to an application (step S810).

Here, the monitoring unit 184 may monitor the update event in real timeor at intervals set by the user or the controller 180.

The monitoring unit 184 may monitor the update event with respect toevery application installed in the mobile terminal, and in addition, themonitoring unit 184 may monitor the update event with respect to only anapplication selected by the user or the controller 180.

Meanwhile, according to the monitoring results obtained by themonitoring unit 184, when the monitoring event has occurred with respectto an application, the checking unit 183 checks status information ofthe mobile terminal in response to the occurrence of the update event(step S820).

For example, as shown in FIG. 9( a), when the update event has occurredin at least one application, the checking unit 183 checks statusinformation of the mobile terminal as shown in FIG. 9( b).

For example, when the ‘status information of terminal’ is related towhether or not power is supplied to the power supply unit 190, namely,whether or not the charger 190 a is connected to charge the battery, thechecking unit 183 checks a power supply state of the mobile terminal.

According to the check results, when the status information of themobile terminal meets an update condition, the controller 180 performsupdating on the application in which the update event has occurred (stepS830) as shown in FIG. 9( c).

Meanwhile, updating of an application may be automatically performedaccording to a selection of the controller 180, or may be performedaccording to a user selection.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are conceptual views explaining a method of performingupdating based on status information in the mobile terminal according toanother embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

For example, a case in which status information of the mobile terminalallowing for execution of updating on an application is informationrelated to a communication mode and a remaining battery capacity (or abattery level) will be described.

When a case in which a communication mode among the status informationof the mobile terminal is the Wi-Fi mode and a remaining batterycapacity is 50% or greater is set to be a status of the mobile terminalsatisfying the update condition, if the update event occurs in threeapplications as shown in FIG. 10A (a), the checking unit 184 checks thestatus information of the mobile terminal as shown in FIG. 10A (b).

According to the check results, when the communication mode is the Wi-Fimode and the remaining battery capacity is 53%, namely, when the statusinformation of the mobile terminal meets the update condition, thecontroller 180 performs updating on the applications in which the updateevent has occurred as shown in FIG. 10A (c).

Meanwhile, if the remaining battery capacity information of the statusinformation of the mobile terminal is 10% as shown in FIG. 10B (b),namely, when the update condition is not met, although an application inwhich the update event has occurred is detected, the controller 180 doesnot perform updating on the application as shown in FIG. 10B (c).

Namely, in the mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, only when the mobile terminal is in a state in which updatingcan be performed on an application, updating can be performed.

Also, as described above, in the mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention, updating may be performed on aparticular application among applications in which the update event hasoccurred.

FIG. 11 is a conceptual view explaining a method of performing updatingonly on a particular application in the mobile terminal according toanother embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

For example, when the update event occurs with respect to a plurality ofapplications as shown in FIG. 11( a) and status information of themobile terminal meets the update condition as shown in FIG. 11( b), thecontroller 180 may perform updating only on a particular application.

For example, on the basis of a user selection, the controller 180 maycontrol the mobile terminal to perform updating only on an applicationhaving high frequency of use (or a favorite application) amongapplications in which the update event has occurred.

Besides, the controller 180 may perform updating on an applicationselected by the user among icons of the update event generatedapplications as shown in FIG. 11( a).

Hereinafter, status information of the mobile terminal for updating anapplication and an embodiment of selecting an application will bedescribed. FIGS. 12A and 12B are conceptual views explaining a method ofsetting an update condition in mobile terminal disclosed in the presentdisclosure.

First, as shown in FIG. 12A (a), the user may set a condition related toupdating of an application through a setting window.

For example, when status information of the mobile terminal meets theupdate condition, the user may select whether to automatically ormanually perform updating.

And, the user may select a notification type for indicating the mobileterminal is in a state in which updating can be performed on anapplication, through the setting window. The user may select an updatecondition through the setting window or may select status information (abattery, a location, a time, a communication network, billing, cloud,and the like) of the mobile terminal related to the update condition.

For example, when the user selects status information of the mobileterminal in relation to ‘location’, the user may set a locationcorresponding to the update condition through a detailed map as shown inFIG. 12A (b).

Although not shown, the user may set various conditions in relation toupdating such as a time interval at which the status information of themobile terminal is checked, and the like, through the setting window.

Also, as shown in FIG. 12B, the user may select types of applicationsand update conditions.

For example, the user may select an application to be monitored by themonitoring unit 184 in FIG. 3.

As described above, in the mobile terminal and a control method thereofaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, by checking statusinformation of the mobile terminal in relation to updating, when themobile terminal is in a state in which updating can be performed, updateinformation with respect to an application is output to the user,whereby the user can receive the update information.

Also, in the mobile terminal and a control method thereof according toan embodiment of the present invention, when the mobile terminal is in astate in which updating can be performed, updating may be automaticallyperformed on an application, whereby user inconvenience of separatelymanaging updating with respect to an application can be reduced.

In the above, the method of updating an application according to thestatus information of the mobile terminal has been described.

Hereinafter, a method of outputting information regarding an applicationthat can be updated to the display unit will be described.

In the mobile terminal according to an embodiment disclosed in thepresent disclosure, when an update event with respect to an applicationoccurs, information related to updating may be displayed on the displayunit to allow the user to easily recognize information regarding theupdate event.

Hereinafter, a method of displaying information related to updating onthe display unit in response to an update event generated with respectto an application will be described in detail.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of displayingupdate information in the mobile terminal according to an embodimentdisclosed in the present disclosure, and FIG. 14 is a conceptual viewexplaining the control method of displaying update information in themobile terminal according to an embodiment disclosed in the presentdisclosure.

First, an application icon (referred to as a ‘first icon’, hereinafter)corresponding to an application is displayed on the display unit 151(step S1310).

For example, first icons 210, 220, 230, and 240 representing respectiveapplications are displayed on the display unit 151 as shown in FIG. 14(a).

The detection unit 182 detects an update event with respect to theapplications (step S1320). Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 14, besides theapplications corresponding to the first icons 210, 220, 230, and 240displayed on the display unit 151, the detection unit 182 may detect anupdate event with respect to all of the applications installed in themobile terminal.

As described above, when the update event is detected by the detectionunit 182, the controller 180 may display a second icon in a regionadjacent to the application icons corresponding to the update event inresponse to the detected update event (step S1330).

For example, as shown in FIG. 14( b), the controller 180 displays updateicons (or second icons 211 and 231) in regions adjacent to the first andthird icons 210 and 230 in which the update event has occurred among theicons 210, 220, 230, and 240 displayed on the display unit 151.Accordingly, the user can recognize that the update event has occurredwith respect to the corresponding applications through the update iconsdisplayed in the regions adjacent to the application icons.

As described above, on the basis of an update execution commandgenerated with respect to the applications in which the update event hasoccurred, the controller 180 executes updating on the correspondingapplications (step S1340).

For example, the update execution command is generated, the controller180 executes updating on the applications in which the update event hasoccurred as shown in FIG. 14( c). And, the controller 180 may provideinformation regarding a progress state of the updating through progressbars 212 and 232.

Hereinafter a method of generating the update execution command withrespect to an application will be described in detail.

FIGS. 15, 16A and 16B are conceptual views explaining a method ofgenerating an update execution command in the mobile terminal accordingto another embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

First, as shown in FIG. 15, the update execution command with respect toan application may be generated on the basis of a user selection withrespect to the update icons 211 and 231 generated in the regionsadjacent to the application icons 210 and 230.

When any one of the update icons is selected by the user, updating isperformed on the application corresponding to the selected update iconas shown in FIG. 15( b).

The progress bar 212 indicating a progress state of the updating on theapplication may be displayed on the display unit 151 in response to theexecuted updating of the application.

Namely, the controller 180 may generate the update execution command inresponse to a touch input of the user applied to the update icon (or thesecond icon 211), and perform updating on the corresponding applicationin response to the update execution command.

Also, the update execution command may be generated on the basis of apre-set touch pattern applied to an application icon.

For example, as shown in FIG. 16A (a), when an touch of a pre-setpattern is applied to the application icon 211 in which the update eventhas occurred, the controller 180 may update the correspondingapplication.

Here, the pre-set touch pattern may be a touch input having a certainpath or may be a touch input having a certain type such as doubletouches, a long touch, and the like.

Namely, in the mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the presentinvention, a touch input executing a function with respect to anapplication and a touch input executing updating with respect to anapplication may be discriminated by using the different types of touchinputs with respect to the application icon 211.

Thus, when a touch of a particular pattern is input with respect to theapplication icon 211 as shown in FIG. 16A (a), updating is performed onthe application corresponding to the application icon 210 as shown inFIG. 16A (b).

And, when a general single touch is input with respect to theapplication icon 211 as shown in FIG. 16B (a), the application icon 210is activated and an application execution screen corresponding to theapplication icon 210 is output to the display unit 151 as shown in FIG.16B (b).

Meanwhile, although not shown, the update execution command may begenerated on the basis of status information of the mobile terminal. Forexample, when an update event with respect to an application isdetected, the controller 180 controls the checking unit 182 in FIG. 3 tocheck status information of the mobile terminal in relation to updatingof an application.

And, according to the check results of the checking unit 183, when thestatus information of the mobile terminal meets the update condition,the update execution command with respect to the application isgenerated, and the controller 180 performs updating on the correspondingapplication in response to the update execution command. Meanwhile, adetailed description in relation to the status information of the mobileterminal and the checking unit 183 has been described, so it is omittedhere.

As described above, in the mobile terminal according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, since the update icons are displayed such thatthey correspond to the applications in which the update event hasoccurred and updating is immediately performed on corresponding iconsthrough the update icons, the user can simply control updating ofapplications.

Hereinafter, a method of displaying update information on a currentlyoutput page when there are a plurality of pages in which icons ofapplications are displayed and an update event occurs in an applicationcorresponding to an application icon included in at least one of theplurality of pages will be described.

Here, a page is a basic screen displayed in an idle state (or a standbystate) of the mobile terminal, and in general, it is expressed as a homescreen.

Also, when application icons corresponding to applications can be outputto the page, at least one application icon may be displayed on a singlepage and application icons corresponding to different applications maybe displayed on each page.

Also, a plurality of pages may exist according to a setting by the useror the controller 180.

Hereinafter, a method of displaying update event information in relationto an application on a page (or a home screen) will be described indetail.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of displayingupdate information in the mobile terminal according to anotherembodiment disclosed in the present disclosure, and FIG. 18 is aconceptual view explaining the control method of displaying updateinformation in the mobile terminal according to another embodimentdisclosed in the present disclosure.

First, the controller 180 outputs any one of a plurality of pagesdisplaying icons corresponding to applications thereon to the displayunit 151 (step S1710).

For example, as shown in FIG. 18( a), any one of the pages is displayedon the display unit 151. And, page images 310, 320, 330, and 340indicating the presence of a plurality of pages is displayed on thepage. For example, as illustrated, the mobile terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention currently includes four home screenpages.

The monitoring unit 184 monitors whether or not an update event occursin at least one of applications corresponding to the icons,respectively, displayed on the plurality of pages (step S1720).

Here, the monitoring unit 184 may monitor the update event in real timeor at every pre-set time intervals.

Meanwhile, when the update event has occurred according to themonitoring results of the monitoring unit 184, the controller 180displays update information in relation to the update event on the pageoutput to the display unit 151 (step S1730).

As shown in FIG. 18( a), the update information may be displayed in aregion adjacent to a page image corresponding to the page including theapplication icon in which the update event has occurred among theplurality of page images 310, 320, 330, and 340.

For example, when the update event has occurred in the applicationscorresponding to the application icons included in the first, second,and fourth pages, only the first, second, and fourth page images 310,320, and 330 may be displayed to have a different color as shown in FIG.18( a).

Also, as shown in FIG. 18( b), the number, i.e., number information, ofthe applications in which the update event has occurred among theapplications corresponding to the application icons included in thecorresponding pages may be displayed in regions adjacent to the pageimages 310, 320, and 340.

Also, as shown in FIG. 18( c), the controller 180 may display the numberinformation 300 of the applications in which the update event hasoccurred in an intuitive manner, apart from the page image.

As described above, in the mobile terminal according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, although application icons are distributedlydisplayed in a plurality of pages, update information in relation toapplications included in different pages is provided on a single pageoutput to the display unit, whereby the user can recognize updateinformation in relation to applications at a glance.

Hereinafter, a method of executing updating on an application by usingupdate information displayed on a page image as described above will bedescribed.

FIGS. 19, 20, 21, 22A and 22B are conceptual views explaining a methodof displaying update information in the mobile terminal according toanother embodiment disclosed in the present disclosure.

For example, when any one of page images corresponding to pagesincluding application icons corresponding to applications in which anupdate event has occurred among page images is selected as shown in FIG.19( a), the controller 180 may display thumbnails 322 and 323 of theicons corresponding to the update event among the application iconsincluded in the corresponding page as shown in FIG. 19( b).

Also, when any one of the plurality of page images is selected, thecontroller 180 may display update detailed information of an applicationin relation to the selected page.

Here, the update detailed information may be various types ofinformation such as a type of an application, an update capacity,version information, an update provider, and the like.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 19( b), the controller 180 may generate apop-up window 321 to display the icons or thumbnails of the applicationsin which the update event has occurred in the pop-up window 321.

As shown in FIG. 19( b), when any one of the thumbnails displayed on thedisplay unit 151 is selected by the user, the controller 180 may executeupdating on an application corresponding to the thumbnail 321 selectedby the user as shown in FIG. 19( c).

Meanwhile, although not shown, when any one of the plurality of imagesis selected in FIG. 19( a), the controller 180 may perform updating onthe applications in which the update event has occurred among theapplications corresponding to the application icons displayed on theselected page image on the whole.

In this case, the controller 180 may display a progress bar indicating aprogress state of the updating on the page currently output to thedisplay unit 151.

Also, the controller 180 may change an output range of the display unit151 such that a page corresponding to the page image selected by theuser is output, and the user may check an application in which theupdate event has occurred from the changed page.

Also, when any one of the plurality of page images 310, 320, and 340 isselected as shown in FIG. 20( a), the controller 180 may display apop-up window 400 displaying update target applications of acorresponding page as shown in FIG. 20( b).

An application update list may be displayed in the pop-up window 400.The user may select any one of the plurality of update targetapplications through the pop-up window 400, so that updating can beperformed on the selected application. Also, the user may performupdating on the update target applications included in the correspondingpage on the whole through an ‘entire approval’ icon 410.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 19( c) and (d), the controller 180 maydisplay progress bars 321 and 322 indicating a progress state of theupdating on the applications on the basis of a user selection.

Also, although a particular page is not selected by the user, whenstatus information of the mobile terminal in relation to updating of anapplication meets an update condition, the controller 180 may update anapplication corresponding to an update event monitored by the monitoringunit 184.

The controller 180 may display information regarding updated applicationas shown in FIG. 20( c) and (d).

Also, when the status information of the mobile terminal meets theupdate condition, or when an application that can be updated is detectedby the monitoring unit 184, the controller 180 may display a list ofapplications that can be updated.

The controller 180 may display the list of applications that can beupdated through a pop-up window.

For example, as shown in FIG. 21, the controller may display the list ofapplications in which the update event has occurred, among applicationscorresponding to application icons displayed on a plurality of pages, inseparate display regions (e.g., pop-up windows).

The controller 180 may categorize the list of applications that can beupdated according to various references such as the latest usage date,the frequency of use, types of applications, an update capacity, anoptimized communication mode, a user classification, and the like.

For example, as shown in FIG. 21( a), the controller 180 may align todisplay applications in which the update event has occurred, on thebasis of the applications which have been lately used.

As shown in FIG. 21( b), the controller 180 may align the applicationsin which the update event has occurred, on the basis of an update size.As shown in FIG. 21( c), the controller 180 may align the applicationsin which the update event has occurred according to the types of theapplications.

On the basis of a user selection, the controller 180 may performupdating only on at least one of the applications on the list or performupdating on all of the applications on the list.

Also, although not shown, the user may set order of the updatedapplications through an update list window illustrated in FIG. 21.

Also, when an application in which the update event has occurred isdetected by the monitoring unit 184, the controller 180 may generate aseparate page on which an icon corresponding to the application in whichthe update event has occurred.

For example, as shown in FIG. 22A (a), at first, the mobile terminalincludes three pages (or home screens 301, 302, and 303), and when theupdate event occurs in at least one application, the controller 180generates a new page 420 as shown in FIG. 22A(b). The controller 180 maydisplay a page image 304 as identification information regarding the newpage on the display unit 151.

The controller 180 displays the icons 210, 240, and 260 in which theupdate event has occurred on the newly generated page 420, whereby theuser can view information regarding the applications in which the updateevent has occurred at a glance.

Also, when any one of the icons 210, 240, and 260 is selected by theuser from the newly generated page 420, the controller 180 may executeupdating on the selected application.

Besides, when an update event occurs according to monitoring of themonitoring unit 184 as shown in FIG. 22B (a), the controller 180 maydivide the page currently output to the display unit into a first region420 a and a second region 420 b.

The controller 180 may display the icons 210, 240, and 260 of theapplications in which the update event has occurred in any one dividedregion 420 b.

Also, when any one of the icons 210, 240, and 260 displayed in thedivided region 420 b is selected by the user, the controller 180 mayexecute updating on the selected application.

As described above, in the mobile terminal according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, since an application icon corresponding to anapplication in which an update event has occurred is displayed on aseparate page or in a separate region, intuitive information can beprovided to the user.

Also, in the mobile terminal and the control method thereof according toan embodiment of the present invention, status information of the mobileterminal in relation to updating is checked, and when the mobileterminal is in a state in which updating can be performed, updateinformation regarding an application is output to the user, whereby theuser can be provided with update information.

In addition, in the mobile terminal and the control method thereofaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, when the mobileterminal is in a state in which updating can be performed, updating isautomatically performed on an application, whereby user inconvenience ofseparately managing updating with respect to the application can bereduced.

In addition, in the mobile terminal and the control method thereofaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, update informationof an application not displayed on the display unit is output, wherebythe user can recognize update with respect to an application installedin the mobile terminal by tuition.

As the exemplary embodiments may be implemented in several forms withoutdeparting from the characteristics thereof, it should also be understoodthat the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of thedetails of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, butrather should be construed broadly within its scope as defined in theappended claims. Therefore, various changes and modifications that fallwithin the scope of the claims, or equivalents of such scope aretherefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile terminal comprising: a checking unit configured to check status information of the mobile terminal in relation to updating of an application; a detection unit configured to detect an application in which an update event has occurred, on the basis of the status information of the mobile terminal; and a controller configured to perform updating on the application detected by the detection unit.
 2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein when the status information of the mobile terminal corresponds with a pre-set update condition, the detection unit detects the application in which an update event has occurred.
 3. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein when the application in which the update event has occurred is detected by the detection unit, the controller outputs update information with respect to the detected application.
 4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the update information is output through a pop-up window displayed on a display unit, and the controller automatically performs updating on the detected application or performs updating on the basis of an update command applied through the pop-up window.
 5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the checking unit checks the status information of the mobile terminal in real time or at pre-set time intervals.
 6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the status information of the mobile terminal is associated with at least one of time information, location information, battery information, capacity information of battery, information regarding the frequency of use of an application, and communication mode information.
 7. The mobile terminal of claim 6, further comprising: a mobile terminal main body; and a location information unit configured to collect location information of the main body, wherein the checking unit checks whether or not the location information of the main body collected by the location information unit indicates that main body has entered a pre-set region.
 8. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the checking unit checks a communication mode of a wireless communication unit, and when the communication mode of the wireless communication unit meets an update condition according to the checking results, the controller controls the detection unit to detect the application in which the update event has occurred.
 9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein when the communication mode is changed, the controller compares a first communication rate corresponding to a previous communication mode before the change and a communication rate corresponding to the changed communication mode, and determines whether to perform updating on the detected application on the basis of the comparison results.
 10. A mobile terminal comprising: a monitoring unit configured to monitor whether or not an update event with respect to an application occurs, a checking unit configured to check status information of the mobile terminal in response to an occurrence of the update event; and a controller configured to update the application in which the update event has occurred according to the status information of the mobile terminal checked by the checking unit.
 11. The mobile terminal of claim 10, wherein when the status information of the mobile terminal checked by the checking unit meets a reference condition, the controller updates the application in which the update event has occurred.
 12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the controller determines whether or not the application corresponding to the update event monitored by the monitoring unit is a pre-set application to be updated, and controls the detection unit to detect the status information of the mobile terminal according to the determination results.
 13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the application to be updated is determined on the basis of at least one of the frequency of use, an update capacity, and a user setting.
 14. The mobile terminal of claim 10, wherein when the occurrence of the update event is monitored by the monitoring unit, the controller outputs information regarding the application corresponding to the generated update event to a display unit.
 15. The mobile terminal of claim 14, wherein the controller determines whether or not the application corresponding to the update event can be updated on the basis of the status information of the mobile terminal, and when the application can be updated according to the determination results, the controller outputs the information regarding the application through a pop-up window.
 16. The mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the controller automatically performs updating on the application, or perform updating on the basis of an update command applied through the pop-up window.
 17. A mobile terminal comprising: a display unit configured to display a first icon corresponding to an application; a detection unit configured to detect an update event with respect to the application; and a controller configured to control the display unit to display a second icon in response to the detection of the update event, and execute updating on the application on the basis of an update execution command.
 18. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the second icon is displayed on a region adjacent to the first icon, and the update execution command is generated in response to a touch input applied to the second icon.
 19. The mobile terminal of claim 18, wherein when updating is executed on the application, a progress bar indicating the progress of updating with respect to the application is displayed on the display unit.
 20. The mobile terminal of claim 17, wherein the update execution command is generated on the basis of a touch input corresponding to a pre-set pattern to the region in which the first icon is displayed, and the controller executes updating on the application corresponding to the first icon on the basis of the generated update execution command.
 21. The mobile terminal of claim 17, further comprising: a checking unit configured to check status information of the mobile terminal in relation to updating of an application, wherein when the status information of the mobile terminal meets an update condition according to the checking results of the checking unit, the update command is generated.
 22. A mobile terminal comprising: a display unit configured to output any one of a plurality of pages on which icons corresponding to applications are displayed; a monitoring unit configured to monitor whether or not an update event has occurred in at least any one of the applications corresponding to the icons displayed on the plurality of pages; and a controller configured to control the display unit to display update information in relation to the update event.
 23. The mobile terminal of claim 22, wherein a plurality of page images corresponding to the plurality of pages, respectively, are displayed in one region of a page output to the display unit, and the controller displays information regarding the update event in a region adjacent to the page image corresponding to the page including the icon of the application in which the update event has occurred among the plurality of page images.
 24. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein the update information is information regarding the number of applications in which the update event has occurred among the applications corresponding to the icons of the applications included in the pages.
 25. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein when the page image is selected, a thumbnail of the application in which the update event has occurred among the applications displayed on the page corresponding to the selected page image is displayed.
 26. The mobile terminal of claim 25, wherein when the thumbnail is selected, updating of the application corresponding to the thumbnail is performed.
 27. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein when any one of the plurality of page images is selected by the user, the controller updates the application in which the update event has occurred among the applications corresponding to the selected page.
 28. The mobile terminal of claim 27, wherein the controller displays a progress bar indicating the progress of updating of the application in a region of the display unit.
 29. The mobile terminal of claim 27, wherein the controller changes an output range of the display unit such that the selected page is output.
 30. The mobile terminal of claim 22, further comprising: a checking unit configured to check status information of the mobile terminal in relation to updating of an application, wherein when the status information of the mobile terminal meets an update condition according to the checking results of the checking unit, the controller updates an application corresponding to the update event monitored by the monitoring unit.
 31. The mobile terminal of claim 30, wherein when the status information of the mobile terminal meets the update condition, the controller generates a pop-up window and displays an application list corresponding to the update event monitored by the monitoring unit in the pop-up window. 